Nwankwo Kanu: Nigerian legend a 'little happy' with Enyimba's Champions League failure

Nwankwo Kanu has taken positives from Enyimba's CAFCL failure. (Photo Credit: Imago)

Nwankwo Kanu: Nigerian legend a 'little happy' with Enyimba's Champions League failure

Izuchukwu Akawor 10:08 - 31.08.2023

Nwankwo Kanu has asked his Elephants, Enyimba, to take the positives from the painful exit in the CAF Champions League at home.

Nigeria Super Eagles legend Nwankwo Kanu has reacted to Enyimba’s disappointing CAF Champions League exit in Aba.

Kanu watched as Enyimba crashed out of the competition after failing to get past Libyan outfit Ahly Benghazi over two legs.

The People’s Elephant lost 4-3 on aggregate to join fellow NPFL side Remo Stars to bid farewell to the CAFCL.

Enyimba vs Benghazi

The reigning Nigerian champions went into the second leg at the weekend with high hopes of making it to the next phase.

Enyimba
Enyimba were held at home by a spirited Ahly Benghazi. (Photo Credit: Imago)

Enyimba put up a good fight in the first leg in Benghazi but despite scoring three fantastic goals, the Elephants conceded four in the seven-goal thriller.

Despite the defeat, the Aba Millionaires were confident of turning things around at home in Nigeria.

Nwankwo Kanu is the new boss at Enyimba. (Photo Credit: Facebook)

However, that dream quickly went up in flames after Ahly came, saw and held the Elephants to a goalless draw.

It was a result that saw the visitors progress to the next phase on aggregate win while Enyimba were left to rue what could have been.

Enyimba bowed out of the CAF Champions League. Credit: Ahly/Instagram

Kanu reacts to the defeat

Former Arsenal forward and Nigerian international, Kanu, has now reacted to the disappointment.

According to a video posted by the club, Kanu is a bit happy with what he saw from the team despite the defeat.

Enyimba
Nwankwo Kanu in the video. (Photo Credit: Screenshot from the video)

The former star has called on the Elephants to take the positives from how they played and build on that moving forward.

“Just take the positives,” Kanu stated in the video. “If you look at the game, we dominated, took control of the game, created chances but we didn’t take those chances and that’s football. You have to punish your opponents.”

“They had only one shot on target, the rest was us. So, looking at that, you will be a little bit happy because they (Enyimba players) did very well.”

Speaking further on the game and performance, Kanu added that the Elephants wanted to qualify for the next phase but must now learn from the defeat.

Enyimba are Nigeria's most successful team with 9 titles. (Photo Credit: Imago)

“We wanted to qualify but football is like that, you win some, you lose some,” he added.

“So, we have to put our heads up and keep going and that’s what i told them (before the game) that of course, we really want to go further but if it didn’t happen, we have to learn a lot from it and take the positives to the next phase.”

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